


Nitroglycerin and Memories

by AnonymouslyFabulous



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Bombs, Experimentation, Mild Gore, Science, TFP - Freeform, Team Prime - Freeform, Transformers - Freeform, experiments gone wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-03-29 13:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13928277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymouslyFabulous/pseuds/AnonymouslyFabulous
Summary: Wheeljack ends up having to replace his arm after an experiment gone wrong.





	Nitroglycerin and Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Back from the dead!  
> I have this theory that Wheeljack in Transformers Prime is about as accident prone as G1 Wheeljack. I hope you all enjoy the story!  
> I don't own Transformers. If I did, there would have been more moments like these.  
> More specifically, Wheeljack's experiments blowing up in his face.

Patience.  That was Wheeljack's middle name.  He was born to be patient.  He could work on this all day if it took him that long.  Of course, unless Optimus contacts him and asks him to go on a mission.  Then the experiment can wait. 

On his desk in front of him was one of Dreadwing's bombs.  The bomb was the size of a small Minicon,  _way_ bigger than any other bomb Wheeljack had encountered from Dreadwing.  Interestingly enough, the bomb failed to detonate when it was lugged at the side of his face.  Now, Wheeljack was trying to figure out why.    

Wheeljack hunched back over his desk, fingers picking and pulling at delicate wires.  Reds, blues, oranges, even violets all seemed to melt into each other as he cut at them. With every wire Wheeljack sawed at, he pulled them out of Dreadwing's bomb and set them in neat piles on the far end of the desk.  Wheeljack began running calculations in his head, digging deeper and deeper into the bomb, picking one wire at a time, or removing a small box of nitroglycerin or something else that could possibly explode.  Now almost elbow deep in the bomb, Wheeljack was at the most delicate step. Removing the core. 

The core was probably the most unstable part of _any_ bomb.  It held the most sensitive materials and the biggest box of explosives you ever seen.  One slip up and everything goes _boom._ Good thing Wheeljack was parked on the ground.  If he survived the blow, he wouldn't have to worry about falling from the sky. 

Wheeljack picked up a small pair of tweezers, gulped, and carefully began to grab the strands of wire holding it in place.  

One. 

Two. 

Three. 

Four. 

Wheeljack counted the amount wires that held the core in place and where he tore them from. After all, he was going to reassemble the bomb again and use it against Dreadwing later if he popped up on Earth.  

The last wire was in a difficult place to pick at. Nestled in the most impossible corner was the red wire. It taunted him. He needed to take this as slow as possible. 

If he messed this up and accidentally grabbed the core and squeezed...he'd just be a splatter of Energon and goo on the walls of his ship.  There wouldn't be anything left to bury.   

' _Bulkhead better mourn me._ ' 

Wheeljack took a deep breath and moved his hand carefully, making sure to not brush the core by accident or flick an unwanted wire that could set the core to explode.  He moved his hand closer and closer. He was right above it. He could almost taste it. If he took the wire off the bomb's main explosive, then he could safely remove the core without any hitches and see what was wrong with it.  _Hopefully._

That is, if he took it off right. 

Steadying his hand, Wheeljack latched the tweezers onto the wire and began to gently tug. The wire stuck to the core, not showing any signs of unlatching, much to Wheeljack's disdain. 

' _Maybe if I give it a harder tug_.' 

And Wheeljack did. The wire bent towards the tweezers and snapped off the core, sending Wheeljack's arm flying up in surprise.  Wheeljack sighed in relief and held the wire up proudly. 

"Take that Dreadwing. I've diffused your prized bomb." Wheeljack smirked and put his arm back in and pulled at the deadly orb. There was a small click and a soft whirr. Wheeljack tensed up, sucking in a sharp breath.  His spark pounded as the bomb kept making subtle noises and beeps. 

But it turned out to be nothing.  The bomb clicked one more time, and the core unlocked from it's place. Wheeljack eyed the bomb warily as he slowly pulled the orb out of the bomb.  The process went smoothly and  Wheeljack would have done a happy dance if he wasn't holding such a dangerous sphere. 

Everything was hunky dory....that is, until the core started beeping in his hand. Wildly. 

"Uh-oh." Wheeljack hissed.  His first instinct was to hurry out of the ship and throw it away from the ship.  He squashed that idea down.  If it hit a human town or killed humans, Optimus would lock him up faster than you could say 'boom'.  The only _other_ option was to put the core back and hope for the best. 

Wheeljack lowered his arm and set the core back in place, the beeping becoming faster and faster.  Cybertronian numbers flicked onto the bombs outer screen once the bomb was locked back into place. 

It was no use.  He had to abandon ship. 

Wheeljack went to move his hand out of the bomb but...

He wasn't quick enough. The bomb stopped ticking. 

A pause.

And it exploded.

Fire filled his vision and a sharp, burning pain engulfed his arm.  A colossal shockwave sent Wheeljack airborne and he flew backwards into the opposite wall on the other side of the ship.  His spinal struts groaned and creaked at the harsh contact, and for a moment, Wheeljack thought he broke his back. 

Wheeljack's mind became fuzzy and his vision was filled with static.  Energon dripped into his eyes and it took a moment for Wheeljack to realize that it was _his_ blood.  HIs body was burning with pain, his right arm radiating with agony.  Groaning, Wheeljack gathered his feet under him and pushed himself up. He wobbled, but stayed upright.  

There was only a mangled stump, wires and metal exposed to the elements. Energon dripped from his injury slowly, so Wheeljack figured he had enough time to contact help. He raised his head from his  ~~arm~~ stump to survey the damage. 

"Damn." 

The Jackhammer wasn't much better off then he was. The entire wall had blown off from the blast, sparks flying from pipes and wires sticking out. The ship was smoking from internal damages, and the entire wing was gone. Obliterated. Small fires were scattered everywhere, growing slowly in size as it found new things to jump onto.  The bomb on his desk wasn't anywhere to be seen.  Just a patch of grey and black soot on his broken, melted desk.  Wheeljack kicked at a piece of metal and winced when it hit another part of the ship.   

Now...the ship he could fix. But his arm...not so much. 

' _Time to call in the doctor.'_

Wheeljack sighed and raised a finger to his commlink. It was staticky for a few seconds before someone actually picked up his call.

"This had better be important Wheelj-" 

"Sunshine. Long time no see!" Wheeljack interrupted, smirking as he heard Ratchet sputter on the other end of the line. 

"The name is Ratchet! Not sunshine!" 

"Alright...Doc." 

Even though he was probably thousands of miles away from the Nevada, he could practically feel Ratchet's burning desire to throw something at Wheeljack. 

"Anyway, as much as this is fun, I need a hand over here." 

"With what?" Ratchet grumbled. 

"No, I need a literal hand. Mine blew off." Wheeljack tried to sound casual, like it was no big deal. Things like this happen all the time to him. Apparently, Ratchet didn't get the memo.

"What do you mean it's blown off! What did you do?" Ratchet shouted after a moment of silence, causing Wheeljack to flinch.  He winced when he bumped his bleeding appendage against the wall. 

"It's not that bad, Doc. I mean, it's missing and it's bleeding, but otherwise-"

"There is no _otherwise_! Look, I'm locking onto your coordinates now.  Stay put and don't worsen the wound." With that, the commlink was shut off. 

Wheeljack laughed and leaned against the wall carefully. He grasped his bleeding arm, and sat down on the ground.  Wheeljack smiled, feeling suddenly weak and fuzzy.

'Huh.  Must have lost more energon than I thought.'

The sound of a groundbridge made him snap his head towards the giant gaping hole in the side of the ship. He heard a quiet "Primus Wheeljack what the frag?"  and then Ratchet came sprinting through the hole, first aid kit in hand.  He stopped at the entrance, gave him a bewildered look and climbed in, dodging and stepping over fragments of both the ship and his arm.  Ratchet kneeled down to assess the damage. 

" _Primus_..." Ratchet whispered under his breath. He looked over his shoulder and pushed himself up, shaking his head as he started to rummage through rubble.  He pulled out a piece of Wheeljack's arm.

"It was a nice Sunday, really it was. It was going great. The sun was shining, I was _actually_  happy. And now, I'm digging through rubble to find pieces of your arm." Ratchet said, frustration evident in his voice. He kneeled down and grabbed at a finger. 

Wheeljack didn't say anything and just watched with tired optics.  Ratchet looked through more metal and wrenched out joint pieces, wires, metal that didn't belong to the ship, and other assorted things. After he was done, which took a total of five minutes, Ratchet grabbed Wheeljack from under his _other_ intact arm and pulled Wheeljack to his feet. Ratchet threw Wheeljack's arm over and onto his shoulder.

"I'm going to need my other equipment to fix this...mess. I don't even know how you injured yourself this bad."

Wheeljack smiled through his groggy haze. 

"Funny story, Doc.  I was elbow deep in a bomb and it blew up."

Ratchet quirked an eyebrow and sighed angrily.

"And why, pray tell, were you _elbow deep_ in a bomb?" Ratchet asked, leading a stumbling Wheeljack out of the smoking wreckage. 

Wheeljack's optics were fuzzing in and out of focus. He tripped over a piece of loose metal on the ground (probably torn off the wing) and jarred his shoulder.  Energon kept flowing freely from his wound, and he could hear Ratchet give a sharp intake of air. 

"Trying to diffuse it...what else do you think I was doing?" Wheeljack slurred. 

His arm throbbed in pain and Wheeljack felt like his mind was in a heavy fog.  Ratchet noticed his sloppy sentence and cursed.  He tugged Wheeljack along faster and they went through the still open groundbridge. 

The smell of cleaner and the sound of synthesized gunshots from the video game the kids were the first things Wheeljack noticed when he was pulled into the underground base.  Through his blurry vision, he could see Bulkhead operating the groundbridge, but he was mostly craning his neck to see what the humans were doing. Bulkhead swung his head around at the sound of footsteps.

"I didn't touch anything, just like you sa-" Bulkhead's eyes practically bulged out of his head when Wheeljack let out a small groan of pain.  

He could only imagine what Bulkhead was seeing.  Wheeljack, missing an arm and bleeding profusely, and Ratchet carrying chunks of his mangled body part and covered in Wheeljack's blood.  Bulkhead looked like he was about to have a mini panic attack.

"Jackie! What happened!?" He shouted and lunged forward to help his friend, completely abandoning the groundbridge controls.  Wheeljack fell into Bulkhead's arms and laughed softly. Ratchet took the opportunity to shut the groundbridge down before anyone could sneak through. 

"It's good to see you too, bud."

Bulkhead's shout caught the attention of the other kids on the platform.  Wheeljack could see them look away from their TV screen to see what was happening. What they saw made their faces contorted into a mixture of disgust, fear, and worry.  Miko was probably the one that was most raw with her emotion. 

"Wheeljack!" Miko cried out.  She jumped off the couch and sprinted down the stairs, almost tripping and falling as she ran.  Jack motioned for Ralph to stay put, and then followed suite, looking pale as his eyes flickered between Wheeljack's wound and the pieces of his arm in Ratchets grasp.

"Miko! Stay back." Ratchet warned, giving her a stern look.  She skidded to a halt, and the color drained from her face when a piece of metal fell on the floor, followed by a splash of energon. 

"Where is your fucking arm?!"

"Right here." Ratchet answered for Wheeljack and motioned to the fragments of metal in his grasp. 

Ratchet pulled Wheeljack out of Bulkhead's grasp. Wheeljack was whisked away into the Medbay before he could say anything to Miko to help calm her down.  He was promptly sat down on the berth while Ratchet grumbled under his breath.  He hooked up wires and other assorted things to Wheeljack's chest. A few seconds later, a fretting Bulkhead came sneaking into the Medbay with Miko on his shoulder. Miko looked like she was about to cry.  Wheeljack sent a reassuring smile her way and she relaxed a little bit.  Wheeljack was fine with them staying in the Medbay, but Ratchet had other ideas.  Ratchet turned away from preparing medical supplies.

"Get out. I don't need you knocking over things I need." He growled, transforming his hand into his welder and turning it on. He moved it towards Bulkhead in a threatening manner.  Bulkhead's eyes went wide and he scurried out of there, Miko clinging onto his shoulder for dear life.  Wheeljack had never seen Bulkhead move so fast in his life.

Ratchet mumbled something under his breath and placed the pieces of Wheeljack's arm onto a nearby table. 

Ratchet grabbed a torturous looking tool and moved to Wheeljack.  

Wheeljack looked away.  He always hated watching someone work on his injuries.  A small pinch and a sharp pain made Wheeljack wince.  That was an energon line being closed.  He could feel Ratchet dig deeper into his shoulder and begin to tie wires off or close more energon lines.  Wheeljack had a hard time sitting still. 

"Stop moving." Ratchet grumbled under his breath, pinching another energon line closed. This process took ten minutes to complete.  

Wheeljack shuddered when he felt something cold cover his wound and when Wheeljack looked over, he saw a metal casing cover his wound to prevent any bleeding.  Ratchet moved away and sorted through Wheeljack's arm, placing them side-by-side, and welded them together.   Wheeljack only watched, laying down onto the berth to relax. 

"Today was crazy, huh?" Wheeljack tried to lighten the mood.  Ratchet kept his back to him. 

"If you want to call it that, then yes.  It was crazy."

Wheeljack sighed. 

"Almost as crazy as Cybertron?"

Ratchet paused and stiffened, the welder still on and firing heat into the air.  After a few moments, Ratchet went back to welding the arm together.

"Remember the good days?" Wheeljack tried again. "When I had my own lab and did my own experiments.  Before joining the Wreckers."

It was Ratchet's turn to sigh. 

"I remember. I also remember having to come in almost once a week to check on you." Ratchet said, not turning his head to look at Wheeljack, who chuckled at the memories.

"Because I kept blowing myself up?"

Ratchet turned to face him, his arm fixed up and looking like new.  Well, except for the paint chips and missing pieces of armour.

"That, and you kept loosing limbs-," Ratchet gestured to Wheeljack's wound, "-or almost killing yourself with radioactive material." Ratchet dropped the arm beside Wheeljack and carefully peeled the metal casing off his injury.  Underneath, the energon had dried and all the lines and wires were closed.  Ratchet opened his subspace, grabbed a clean cloth, and slowly began to dab the dried energon off. 

"You may want to turn your pain receptors off when I put your arm back on." Ratchet said, scrubbing gently at a sensitive wire.  Wheeljack winced.

"It's alright Doc. I've been through a lot without having to turn those things off."

Ratchet gave him an uncertain look as he put the rag back into his subspace.  Transforming his hand into his welder and picking up the arm carefully, Ratchet lined up the wires together and began melting the metal together.

Wheeljack's arm exploded with fire, but he didn't show that he was in pain. 

"Remember that time I put myself into a coma? Oh, and the time I almost blew off my head?" 

Wheeljack saw a small smile slip onto Ratchet's lips. 

"Yeah. I do. Before joining the Wreckers, you were really into doing your own experiments and whatnot. Too bad that changed when the war started." 

Wheeljack frowned. 

"Someone needed to be out fighting ol' Megatron." 

Ratchet's fingers sewed together wires and energon lines to their counterpart, and welded them.

"But did you want too?" 

Wheeljack chuckled softly,earning a sharp glare from Ratchet when he shrugged his shoulders. 

"Of course! Who didn't want to be fighting the Decepticons back then?"

Ratchet shrugged and shifted the arm carefully.

"A lot of bots. That's why some of them went Neutral." 

Wheeljack scoffed, but didn't say anything more. There was no use in arguing about something that happened a long time ago. They sat in silence for a while, the soft whirring of the welder and the slight shifting of metal the only sounds in the small room. 

In the main area, Wheeljack could hear shooting noises come from the human's video game console. Bulkhead's heavy feet echoed throughout the base as he paced, and Wheeljack smiled to himself. 

"He seemed surprised when I came through.  I'm guessing you didn't tell him why you went through the groundbridge?"

Ratchet shook his head, focused on fixing Wheeljack's arm. 

"I didn't want him getting in the way and accidently smash something I needed."

"Yeah...he's pretty good at that."

They both listened to the outside noises for a while, not really saying anything to each other.  The welder kept burning and melting the metal to his body, but Wheeljack couldn't feel the heat anymore. Slowly, Wheeljack began to nod off, giving into his frame's needs and he fell into recharge. 

\------ 

"And...done."

Wheeljack startled awake, roughly. His arm was sore, but attached to his body.  Wheeljack wiggled his fingers and squeezed his hand. 

Outside of the Medbay, voices floated through the air. The others were back from wherever they went. 

"No pain?" Ratchet's voice came from in front of him.  Ratchet had moved to the counter, cleaning his tools and throwing a now stained-blue rag in a washbin.  Wheeljack snapped his fingers and smiled. 

"Nope. No pain at all."

Ratchet nodded and went back to cleaning his tools. 

"Say...how long was I out for?"

Ratchet turned around.

"An hour, at least. Maybe more. While you were out, Bulkhead came in about three times to check on you."

Wheeljack looked up to Ratchet and smiled graciously.

"Thanks for fixing my arm...Sunshine."

Wheeljack probably should have transformed and sped out of the base at that moment, but he didn't and instead stayed seated, watching as Ratchet's gaze turned dark.  If looks could kill, Wheeljack would have probably been dead as soon as those words left his mouth.  Reaching behind his back, Ratchet grabbed something from the counter. In his grasp was a wrench.  His throwing wrench.

' _Uh oh.'_


End file.
